


My Big Fat Alien Summer

by Storygirl000



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 17:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19480423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storygirl000/pseuds/Storygirl000
Summary: Amethyst “Amy” Williams is a ten-year-old girl whose only interests are her electronic devices and hanging out with her best friend. Fearing that she’ll grow up without properly experiencing the world beyond the internet, her parents accept an offer from an old friend and have her join him and his ten-year-old grandkids on a summer road trip.They probably didn’t think their daughter would end up getting an alien weapon stuck to her wrist and start fighting crime, but hey, that’s life.





	My Big Fat Alien Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reboot of a fanfic I started writing a long time ago, then decided was terrible and gave up on. I’m fairly sure this will be an improvement, but you’re the judge of that. Questions and constructive criticism will be accepted.

_Five minutes. Then I’m free._

Amy glanced at the clock again, her impatience growing with each passing second.

Today was the last day of school before summer vacation, and, like every other schoolkid on the planet, Amy was excited. Finally, she would have the freedom to do whatever she wanted with her day!

Well...okay, so she didn’t have much planned besides playing video games, browsing on the Internet, watching TV, and hanging out with her best friend. Still. Summer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a brown-haired, green-eyed boy folding up a paper airplane. Then, with precise aim, he threw it, managing to hit the back of the teacher’s head. When she turned around, he picked up his book and pretended to be deeply engrossed with it.

Amy rolled her brown eyes. _Typical class clown_.

The clock reached 2:59, and Amy tuned out the teacher’s usual end-of-the-year speech, instead watching the seconds tick by with baited breath.

_Five...four...three...two...one…_

_BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!_

Amy smiled and practically flew out of her seat, running out the door towards her new freedom.

00000

“So, what do you think we should do tomorrow?”

Amy had gotten on the school bus in record time, sitting where she always did: front row, left side, between the window and her best friend.

Said best friend, Julie, shrugged in response to her question. “I found this old movie in my dad’s stash we could watch.”

Amy raised an eyebrow. “What’s it about?”

“I dunno...something about airplanes? And it’s rated PG, so we won’t have to watch it the hard way.”

“Old people PG or ‘Practically G’?”

“Let me reiterate: it came from _my dad’s_ stash.”

Amy grinned. “References we won’t get and words we can’t repeat. Perfect.”

The bus came to a stop, and Amy stood up to get off. “See you tomorrow!” she called.

Julie waved. “See you!”

Amy waved back and ran off the bus towards her house.

Once she got inside, she took off her shoes, dropped her backpack by the door, and started heading for her room...only to bump into her parents on the way.

She stumbled backwards, then looked up at them sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Her mom smiled. “It’s alright, honey. I guess you’re pretty excited for your trip, right?”

And just like that, Amy’s train of thought crashed into the station.

“Say what now?” she asked.

Her mom blinked, then turned to her dad. “I thought you told her.”

Her dad shook his head. “I thought _you_ told her.”

“Mom, Dad, what’s going on?” Amy asked, suddenly not liking where this conversation was going.

Her dad sighed. “Amy, do you remember Max Tennyson?”

“That work friend of Aunt Molly’s? Yeah, why?”

“Well, we were talking to him a couple of months ago, and he told us that he’d planned out a summer road trip for his grandkids. We mentioned that we wanted you to get out more, one thing led to another, and, well…”

“...you’re going to be traveling with him for the summer,” her mom finished.

Amy blinked. Then she said what she felt was the most appropriate for the situation.

_“What?”_

Her mom sighed. “Amy, you spend too much time cooped up inside your room staring at a screen. You need to get out and explore the world some more.”

“I _do_ get out!” Amy protested.

“You walk three blocks to Julie’s house and then the two of you watch movies. That doesn’t count.”

“Besides,” her dad added, “you’ll be travelling across the United States! It’ll be fun!”

Amy sighed, realizing that she wasn’t going to win the argument. “Fine. How long do I have to pack?”

“About a half-hour.”

Amy nodded, grabbed her backpack, and headed towards her room.

00000

“...so yeah, that sums up what’s going on.”

Twenty-five minutes later, Amy had managed to pack all the things she would need for an entire summer – changes of clothes, bathroom supplies, snacks, cellphone, laptop, portable charger, portable wifi hotspot, the works. Now, she was sitting on her suitcase, waiting for Max to arrive, and letting Julie know what happened.

She heard a groan on the other end of the line. _“Aw,_ man _. So much for movie night.”_

“I’m not happy about it either, but you know my parents. Once they think something’s good for me, I can’t change their minds,” Amy responded.

_“Hey, at least you get to bring your laptop with you. Think you can video message me when you get to your first destination?”_

Amy smiled. “How about I do better and try to chat with you once a day? Who knows, something exciting might actually happen.”

_“Thanks, Amy. You’re the best.”_

“Amy!” her mom yelled. “Max is here!”

“I’ll be there in a sec!” Amy yelled back. “I have to go now, Julie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

_“See you then.”_

With that, Amy hung up, pocketed her phone, grabbed her suitcase and backpack, and headed outside.

She could see her parents standing in front of a plain-looking RV talking to an older man, in his fifties or sixties. They spotted her and motioned for her to join them, so she walked over to them.

The older man-who Amy was pretty sure was Max-knelt down to her height. “And you must be Amy, right? It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

Amy shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Why don’t you put your suitcase in the trunk and then join my grandkids in the RV? They’ve been dying to meet you!”

Amy was pretty sure that Max’s grandkids weren’t _that_ excited to see her, but she didn’t say that. Instead, she replied with “Sure.”

With that, she headed to the back of the RV and stuck her suitcase in the trunk as instructed, before going to one of the RV’s doors, opening it up, and stepping inside.

She looked around the vehicle. It looked like a standard RV, with a seating area, a mini kitchen, and a few beds.

Then she saw the occupants.

Sitting in front of her was the class clown from earlier. She’d never bothered to remember his name – Glen, Sven? Across from him was a girl with bright orange hair and green eyes similar to his.

The two turned to look at her. “I’m guessing you’re the extra passenger Grandpa’s been talking about?” the girl asked.

Amy sighed. “Yeah.”

The boy stood up. “Hey, you’re in my class!”

The girl suddenly gained a sympathetic look. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you had to deal with _him_ all year.”

The boy glared at her. “Well, it’s better than having to spend a summer with _you_ , dweeb!”

And with that, the two started bickering. From this, Amy managed to pick up that their names were Ben and Gwen.

She walked over to a bed and plunked her backpack on it. “I’m claiming this as my own,” she told them.

Neither of them paid attention to her.

Amy sighed and ran a hand through her short brown hair. _This is going to be_ fun.

00000

An hour later, the RV was on the road. Amy had said goodbye to her parents, and was currently lying on top of the bed she’d claimed, listening to Ben and Gwen talk while occasionally interjecting her own thoughts.

“I can’t believe it! I wait all school year to go on this trip, and now the Queen of Cooties is along for the ride!” Ben griped.

Gwen glared at him. “Hey! I had my own vacation already all planned out too, you know!” she retorted. She then pulled out what looked like a calendar that someone had vomited a rainbow on. “Each activity is color-coded, so I never do the same thing two days in a row,” she explained.

“Wow, great job wasting your second through fifth impressions on me,” Amy deadpanned.

Gwen glared at her. “Except now, I’m stuck with my geekazoid cousin and a jerk I barely know going camping for three months!”

Ben glared at her. “Geek.”

“Jerk,” Gwen retorted.

“Wastes of space,” Amy added.

Max, hearing all this from the driver’s seat, let out a sigh. “Something tells me it’s going to be a _long_ summer.”

00000

The group managed to reach their campsite just in time for dinner. And by “dinner”, I meant “whatever Max dug up from the ground and cooked”.

“Chow time!” he announced, placing a bowl of _live_ worms in front of Ben, Gwen, and Amy.

Ben looked at it in disgust before saying “Okay, I give up. What _is_ that?”

“Marinated mealworms,” Max answered. “Hard to find them fresh in the States. You know, they’re considered a delicacy in some countries.”

Gwen grimaced. “And totally _gross_ in others.”

Amy shuddered. “Mr. Tennyson, do you have anything that isn’t, you know, _alive?”_

“If these don’t sound good, I’ve got some smoked sheep’s tongue in the fridge.”

“If it’s not alive, I’ll take it.”

“Couldn’t we just have a burger or something?” Ben asked hopefully.

“Nonsense! This summer’s going to be a summer for your taste buds,” Max responded. “I’ll grab the tongue.” With that, he headed into the RV.

Ben turned to look at Amy. “Why’d you side with him on this?”

Amy shrugged. “All meat tastes the same to me, and I doubt I’m going to last the summer on one small package of goldfish crackers a day.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up. “You have enough crackers to last us the summer?”

Amy glared at her. “Enough to last _me_ the summer. You’re on your own.”

Gwen frowned, then turned to Ben. “And you?”

“I’ve got a half-eaten bag of corn chips and a candy bar in my backpack,” he replied. “What do you got?”

“Some rice cakes and hard candy.”

“Think we can make ‘em last the whole summer?”

Both silently came to the realization that no, they couldn’t.

00000

After dinner, all three kids were on their electronic devices. Well, almost.

“Argh!” Amy groaned. “I forgot to charge my laptop before I left the house!”

“There’s a couple of outlets near your bed, if you need to use those,” Max offered.

Amy nodded. “Thanks, Mr. Tennyson.”

“Please, just call me Max.”

Amy ran inside the RV, pulled her laptop’s charging cable out of her bag, and plugged it into the outlet, then went back outside.

“What am I supposed to do while it’s charging?” she asked herself.

She looked around at her surroundings. As far as she could tell, they were surrounded by nothing but dense forest, with a few clearings here and there.

Well, her parents _did_ want her to get out more.

“Max?” she called. “I’m gonna go for a walk.”

“Don’t go too far,” he responded.

“I won’t.”

With that, she headed into the forest.

00000

She hadn’t walked for more than a few minutes before coming across another clearing. With nothing better to do, she sat down on the grass and looked up at the sky.

She had to admit, it was pretty cool. You couldn’t see the stars like this back home. And if she listened closely, she could hear the buzzing of crickets nearby.

Maybe her parents were right. Maybe this _would_ be fun.

“...this is going to be the worst vacation ever. I might as well have gone to summer school.”

Or maybe not.

“Ben?” she called. “Is that you?”

She heard bushes rustling, and Ben stepped out into the clearing. “Hey, Amy.”

“Hey.”

“Mind if I sit with you?”

“Why not.”

He sat down, and the two were silent for a moment.

Then Ben spoke up. “So how were you roped into this?”

“My aunt knows your grandpa from work, and he talked to my parents about it.” She sighed, resting her head in her hands. “Except they didn’t bother telling me about it until today, when I’d already made plans with my best friend. You?”

“Grandpa told me about it months ago, and I made the mistake of thinking it would be the best summer ever.”

“...this sucks.”

“I know.”

The two sat in silence again.

Suddenly, they heard a whooshing noise overhead. The two looked up and saw a glowing red...thing streaking through the sky.

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Whoa! A shooting star!”

Amy looked confused. “I don’t think shooting stars are supposed to be that loud…”

Then the star changed course and headed directly towards them.

Ben’s eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet, Amy doing the same. “Run!” he yelled.

The two of them ran away from the star, managing to get out of the way before it crashed to the Earth.

As soon as he was sure it was safe, Ben got to his feet. “You alright, Amy?”

Amy coughed and nodded. “Yeah.”

The two of them stood up and surveyed the damage.

At the end of what appeared to be a shallow hole was a smoking metal ball. Curious, the two kids walked towards the edge of the hole, trying to get a closer look.

“Looks like a satellite or something,” Ben noticed.

Amy gulped. “I don’t think that thing’s manmade...”

The dirt gave way under them, sending them tumbling into the hole.

The two stood up again, dusted themselves off, and looked at the metal ball again. It suddenly opened up.

Inside, something flashed green and red. The light illuminated the inside of the ball, revealing two nearly-identical grey watches–one with a green faceplate, one with a red faceplate.

Ben was confused. “What would watches be doing in outer space?”

He suddenly got a grin on his face. Amy noticed it and glared. “Ben…”

“Oh, come on! What’s the worst that could happen?” Ben asked.

Amy sighed. “I’d like you to remember saying that in five minutes when we run for our lives.”

Ben ignored her and reached out to grab one of the watches.

Suddenly, the green watch opened up and jumped at Ben, grabbing his left wrist. A second later, the red watch did the same, grabbing Amy’s left wrist in the same manner.

“Augh! Get it off me! Get it off me!” Ben yelped, shaking his arm.

Amy yelped, then grabbed the red watch and started tugging at it. “It won’t come off!”

Ben leapt out of the hole and started running back towards the campsite. “GRANDPA!”

Amy jumped out of the hole and ran after him. “Wait up!”

00000

Back at the campsite, Max had noticed that Ben and Amy hadn’t come back yet.

“Hmm,” he pondered. “Ben and Amy have been gone a while. I guess they can’t get into too much trouble out here.

“Unless they wound up bear food,” Gwen suggested.

Max glared at her.

“Hey, I can dream, can’t I?”

00000

Back with Ben and Amy, Ben had found a stick and was trying to pry the watch off with it. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

Throwing the broken stick away, Ben groaned. “What’s it going to take to get this off?”

“Well, these things haven’t killed or impregnated us yet, so I think we’re fine for now,” Amy replied.

Ben rolled his eyes and began fiddling with the watch.

Suddenly, the faceplate popped up. “Whoa!” Ben exclaimed, surprised.

Amy raised an eyebrow. “You think mine does that?”

“I dunno, try it out.”

Amy did what he had done. Sure enough, the faceplate popped up.

The faceplates on both watches then displayed different silhouettes of... _something_. Neither of them could recognize what creatures they were.

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Cool!”

The watches started beeping, and Ben pushed down on the faceplate of his.

A flash of green light came out of him, and Amy raised her arm to shield her eyes on it...unintentionally pressing down on the faceplate of her own watch, too.

A red light came from her body, and for a few seconds the forest lit up like a Christmas tree.

Once the lights had died down, it was obvious what had happened to them.

Standing in Ben’s place was a humanoid creature who appeared to be made out of red rocks and lava. His head was completely engulfed in fire, save for his face, and the watch’s hourglass symbol had been transferred to his chest.

Standing in Amy’s place was a black-colored, androgynous humanoid moth creature with blue, icelike patches covering its body. It had large, pale brown eyes, and its mouth was frozen in a permanent teeth-bearing scowl. On its back was a pair of large blue wings. The watch’s hourglass symbol was on its back, right in the center of its wings.

It only took a moment for Ben and Amy to realize what had happened to them.

Then Ben started screaming.

“I’m on fire! I’m on fire!” he yelped, running around the woods. Then he realized something. “Hey...I’m on fire...and I’m okay!”

“Good for you,” Amy hissed, starting to shiver. “Meanwhile, _I_ feel like it’s dropped twenty degrees or more!”

Ben gave a cheesy grin. “Check it out, I’m _totally_ hot!”

Amy sighed. “That was so funny I forgot to laugh.”

Ben scanned his surroundings, his eyes eventually landing on a tree branch. With a grin, he created a small fireball and launched it at the tree, knocking the branch off.

Amy raised an eyebrow. “Okay, that’s kind of impressive.”

“I bet you can do something like that with your new body!” Ben said. “C’mon, try it out!”

Amy thought for a second, then raised a hand and aimed at the now-broken tree branch.

A beam of ice shot out, encasing the tree in a thick layer of frost.

Amy smirked to the best of her ability. “Pretty cool.”

Ben gave her a look. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. It-” She stopped and glared at him. “Oh, ha ha. That was completely unintentional.”

“ _Suuuure_ it was. I’ll see if I can make a bigger one!”

As Ben created a larger fireball between his hands, Amy took a step back. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked nervously.

Ben smirked. “Absolutely.”

With that, he threw the fireball, breaking the trunks of several trees.

He smiled at his handiwork...until he noticed the fire he’d started.

He gulped. “Uh oh.”

Amy slapped a palm to her face. “Way to go, Einstein!”

“Shut up and help me put this out!”

With that, Ben ran over and tried to stomp on the fire to put it out, only feeding it in the process. Amy, meanwhile, was trying to use her own powers to put it out; however, the fire was spreading too quickly for her to be of much help.

“Oh, man,” Ben muttered. “We’re going to get _so_ busted for this.”

Amy glared at him. _“We?”_

00000

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Gwen had taken notice of the smoke produced by the fire. “What’s that?” she asked.

Max looked at it and frowned. “Looks like the start of a forest fire. We’d better let the ranger station know. Probably some darn fool camper out there messing around with something he shouldn’t.”

The implications hit the two of them like a ton of bricks.

“Ben and Amy!”

Max quickly opened up a box containing a pair of fire extinguishers, handing one to Gwen. “Better take this.”

With that, the two ran towards the source of the fire.

00000

Back with Ben and Amy, the two were still trying to put out the fire with minimal success.

“This would be so cool if it weren’t so...not cool!” Ben said.

Amy glared at him and continued to fire off ice blasts. “For the record, if I die out here, my epitaph will specifically blame you!”

Ben glared back at her. “And how will you make sure of that if you’re already dead?!”

“I’ll come back as a ghost, _duh!_...wait, is that Gwen?”

Ben looked up to see where Amy was pointing, but someone bumped into him before he could. He turned around...and got a face full of fire extinguisher chemicals. “Argh!”

Gwen, meanwhile, seemed to realize she was facing down with a creature made of fire and a moth person and did the most logical thing she could think of.

She screamed. Loudly.

“Look, I know I look weird, but there’s no reason to be scared-” Ben began to explain.

He didn’t get to finish. Mostly because Gwen whacked him with the fire extinguisher and sprayed him again.

“I don’t know what you are, but you’ll stay down if you know what’s good for you!” she growled.

Amy quickly went to Ben’s side. “Gwen, it’s us!”

Gwen screamed again. “GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU WEIRDO!”

“Wow, rude.”

Ben, meanwhile, took the opportunity to light Gwen’s shoe on fire.

“OW!” Gwen yelped, spraying her shoe before glaring at the now-laughing Ben. “I warned you!”

Ben glared back at her. “Don’t even think about it, freak!”

Gwen’s glare turned into a look of realization. “Ben? Is that you? Where’s Amy?”

Amy waved a hand. “Yo.”

Gwen looked over at Amy, her eyes widening. “What _happened_ to you guys?”

“Well, as we were walking, a meteor fell out of the sky and almost smushed us! Except it wasn’t a meteor or a satellite, it was these cool watch things that jumped up onto our wrists-”

“-and we messed around with them, and I turned into Glacia, and Ben turned into...whatever that is,” Amy finished.

Ben gave her a look. “Wait, you named it?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Gwen!” Max yelled, running up to them. “Are you alri–what in blazes?”

“Hey Grandpa, guess who?” Gwen said.

Ben waved. “It’s us, Grandpa!”

“Ben? What happened?”

“Long story,” Amy replied.

“Um, major forest fire raging out of control, remember?” Gwen said.

“What do we do?” Ben asked.

Amy shrugged. “I’ve been trying to put it out, but it’s way too strong for me to handle now.”

Max looked around, then said “Backfire. Start a new fire, and let it burn into the old fire. They’ll snuff each other out. Think you can do it, Ben?”

Ben grinned. “Shooting flames, I can _definitely_ do.”

“What about me?” Amy asked.

“You should head back to the campsite with us. Things are about to get hot,” Max replied.

Amy nodded and went with them, while Ben ran in the opposite direction.

Finding a good set of trees, he blasted them, letting them catch fire. Soon, just as Max had said, the fires burned into each other and snuffed out.

Ben nodded in satisfaction before running back to the campsite.

00000

“...and you say that these watches just jumped up and clamped on to your wrists?”

At the campsite, Max was interrogating Ben and Amy about the day’s events, while Gwen watched and ate marshmallows straight from the bag.

“Hey, this time it wasn’t my fault! I swear!” Ben protested.

“Wasn’t your– _you’re_ the one who wanted to touch these things in the first place!” Amy hissed.

Max sighed. “I believe you, Ben.”

“Think they’re gonna stay monsters forever?” Gwen asked.

“They’re not monsters, they’re aliens.”

All three kids stared at him.

“I-I mean, look at them! What else could they be?”

Amy scratched her chin in thought. “I mean, these watches came from space, so that _does_ make sense.”

“But I don’t wanna be fire guy forever!” Ben said. “How am I supposed to play little league this summer if I charcoal the ball every time I catch a pop fly?”

Amy sighed. “And I doubt my parents are going to be happy when they realize they have to raise a moth to adulthood.”

“Don’t worry, you two. We’ll figure something out,” Max reassured them.

Suddenly, Ben’s hourglass symbol started beeping and flashing red, while Amy’s started beeping and flashing black. In a flash of green and red light, both of them turned back to normal.

Ben blinked, then looked over himself, a smile forming on his face “I’m me again!”

Amy readjusted her glasses. “Glad to have these back!”

Gwen frowned. “Aw, too bad, I liked you better when you were a briquette and a bug.”

Ben started pulling at the watch in vain. “Still can’t get this thing off!” he complained.

“Better not fool around with them anymore until we know exactly what we’re dealing with,” Max said. He turned on a flashlight. “I’ll go check out that crash site, you guys stay here until I get back.”

With that, he went into the forest, leaving the three of them behind.

00000

Somewhere in the forest, away from the campsite, an orange pod crashed down.

The pod let off some steam before opening itself up, revealing it to be a large, red-eyed robot.

The robot scanned its surroundings and spotted the trail left by the ball when it came to Earth, as well as the now-empty ball itself.

It brought up a hand and blasted the ball, leaving nothing but smoke and a small crater behind.

Its shoulders then flew up, revealing themselves to be a pair of drones. They quickly began to scour the area for their target.

00000

Back at the campsite, Ben was sitting behind the RV, fiddling with his watch. Amy sat nearby, doing the same.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “I wonder what this thing does?” he asked.

Amy shrugged. “I dunno. Try it.”

Ben quickly looked around to make sure no one was there.

“Caught ya!” Gwen shouted, taking Ben by surprise. She then started laughing.

“Ha ha, very funny. Like your face!” Ben retorted. “Amy, why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”

Amy shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

The two of them went back to their watches. “Grandpa said not to mess with those things,” Gwen reminded them.

“Yeah, so? What’s your point?” Ben asked.

Amy frowned. “Gwen, if it turns out you’re a tattler on top of a complete nerd, my dislike of you is going to skyrocket.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Did your parents drop you when you were babies?”

“C’mon, you can’t tell me you’re not a little bit curious what else these things can do,” Ben said.

“Not in the least.”

“...you sure you’re related to me?”

“I have a hard time believing that, at least,” Amy said. “You guys don’t do anything but bicker and argue. You know, my mom knows someone who can do DNA tests with 98% accuracy, you could check him out.”

Ben and Gwen glared at her, but said nothing.

00000

Meanwhile, Max was busy checking out the crash site. He soon found a chunk of metal in the hole the ball had been.

He frowned. “I don’t like this one little bit.”

00000

“Look,” Ben continued, still fiddling with the watch, “if we can figure these things out, we could help people. I mean _really_ help them, not just, y’know, make things worse.”

Gwen nodded. “So, what did it feel like, going all alien like that?”

“It freaked me out at first,” Ben explained. “It was like I was me...but it was also like I was somebody else.”

“We adapted to our new bodies pretty quickly,” Amy added, “but the whole thing was still really weird.”

There was a beeping noise, and the faceplates of the watches went up again.

Ben smiled. “Hey, we figured out how we did it! Think we should try it again? Just once?”

Amy shrugged. “I’m interested in seeing if I could turn into other things. Y’know, besides Glacia.”

Gwen gulped. “I wouldn’t.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “No duh, you wouldn’t.”

Amy smiled. “Looks like you’ve been outvoted, Gwen.”

With that, the two slammed their hands on the faceplates and started to change.

When the lights died down, Ben was revealed to have turned into a large, orange, furry doglike creature with a large black mouth, black claws, no eyes, and the hourglass symbol manifesting itself as a shoulder pad.

Amy, meanwhile, had turned into a mostly black-furred humanoid feline, with purple fur on her arms and legs that extended outwards and resembled gloves and boots, respectively. The fur on her head was primarily purple, with black fur that resembled a mask. She had solid brown eyes, and the hourglass symbol was on her chest.

Gwen looked at Ben’s new form and grimaced. “Eeew, this thing’s even uglier than you are normally! Bow wow, put a flea collar on this mutt!”

Amy blinked, then looked around. “Cool, I’ve got permanent night vision! And…” She waved a hand in front of her nose. “Okay, either I’ve got enhanced sense of smell, or you two need to take a _serious_ bath.”

Gwen wasn’t paying attention to her, however, as she was still gawking at Ben. “And no eyes? What good is this one? It can’t see!”

Gwen took a look at the stick she had been using to roast marshmallows. An evil grin formed on her face.

Amy took notice. “Gwen, are you seriously planning on taking advantage of the physically disabled?”

Gwen didn’t answer. Instead, she walked around to Ben’s rear end and took a swing...only to fall over when Ben jumped onto the RV.

Gwen stood up and frowned. “Okay, so maybe it’s not a _total_ loser…” she admitted.

Amy smiled. “Must have some sort of super-sensing abilities.”

Ben leapt off of the RV, stopping right in front of Gwen. She grimaced and covered her nose. “Eeew. Two words: Breath. Mint.”

“I wouldn’t be talking if I were you, Gwen!”

“That doesn’t count, you said it yourself that you probably have super-smelling as a power!”

While they argued, Ben leapt over the two of them and ran into the forest.

“Ben?! Get back here! Ben!” Gwen yelled after him. “I’m gonna tell Grandpa that you turned into some kind of freaky animal monster thing and went swinging around the forest when he told you not to!” She sighed. “This has been a majorly weird day.”

“You’re telling me?” Amy asked. “I’ll go find him. Shouldn’t be too hard; he’s leaving his smell everywhere.”

With that, she stepped forward...and almost hit a tree.

Amy looked back where she’d been standing and grinned. “Super speed? That should make this easier.”

With that, she darted off into the forest, tracking Ben down.

00000

Ben, meanwhile, was having the time of his life swinging through the forest like a monkey hopped up on Pixy Sticks.

He landed on a tree for a minute, hoping to catch his breath...and then sensed something was off.

He got off the tree just as a laser blast hit it.

Soon, Ben running through the trees, dodging the lasers that were being fired off from one of the drones from earlier.

Nearby, Amy was dashing through the forest, careful not to hit any trees, when she heard the sounds of things exploding.

She facepalmed. “Why am I not surprised?” Then she headed in the direction of the sounds.

The drone, meanwhile, had lost Ben and was currently trying to figure out where he had gone.

Sadly, it did not take “potential death from above” into consideration.

As Ben pounced on the drone, it fired its laser blindly, taking out several trees before Ben ripped off its head.

Then the Omnitrix started beeping.

Ben, realizing what was about to happen, jumped off the drone just as he de-transformed, allowing said drone to crash into a cliff and explode.

Looking at the wreckage, he pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!”

“Ben!”

Amy ran into the clearing and glared. “Don’t run off like that!” She eyed the wreckage. “What happened, anyways?”

Ben shrugged. “Got attacked by a robot. No big.”

“No bi– you got _attacked!_ And how do you know that there weren’t more of those?!”

As if on cue, a whirring noise permeated the clearing. Ben and Amy turned to the source–and saw a second drone, ready to attack.

Ben gulped. “ _Not_ good.”

Amy growled. “Guess it’s time to see if this thing is combat-equipped.”

She brought her hands across her chest. Almost immediately, claws extended from her fingers.

She smirked. “Oh, yeah.”

Before the drone had a chance to fire its laser, Amy pounced on it, digging her claws into its sides and ripping out a few wires. The drone sparked and sputtered, but managed to move quickly, throwing Amy into a tree.

She rubbed her head. “Okay, _ow_.”

Then her watch started beeping.

Within a few seconds, Amy had become human again, leaving her and Ben prone to attack. Her eyes widened. _“Crud.”_

Before the robot could fire at them, however, it was hit in the face by a shovel.

As Ben and Amy watched, the drone went down, thanks to the timely arrival of an armed Gwen. “Back off, Sparky! No flying tree trimmer is going to hurt _my_ travel mates!”

With that, she went to town on the drone, smashing it as much as she could.

“Never thought I’d say this, but am I glad to see you!” Ben said.

Amy nodded. “Same here.”

The robot suddenly caught fire, and the three of them quickly got out of dodge.

00000

“I was worried that you might get popular with those things on your wrists.”

The trio was back at the RV, currently being told off by Max.

“That’s why I asked you not to fool around with them until we know what the heck they are!” he finished, glaring at Ben and Amy.

Ben looked down. “Sorry, Grandpa. But, at least we figured out how to make them work!” He and Amy held their arms up to demonstrate.

“All you do is press this button,” Amy explained, demonstrating alongside Ben. “Then, when the ring pops up, just twist it until you see the thing you wanna be.”

“Slam it down, and BAMMO! You’re one of ten super-cool aliens!” Ben finished.

“What about staying a super-cool alien and not transforming back into plain old pizza face?” Gwen asked.

Amy frowned. “Still not sure about that part yet.”

Max brought a hand to his chin in thought. “With devices as powerful as those watches clamped on you, my guess is we’d better help you learn. Fast.”

Ben smiled and pumped his fists in the air. “All _right!”_

Amy smirked at looked at her watch. “Cool.”

Suddenly, the radio in the RV buzzed to life. “Mayday! Mayday! Somebody help us! We’re under attack by some sort of – I know you’re not going to believe me, but – robot!”

“A robot?” Amy gulped. “Oh, no…”

“Sounds just like those things that attacked us!” Ben said. “It must be looking for the watches...those people are in trouble because of us!”

“Do you know what we should do?”

Ben stood up. “I think we can help them.”

Gwen stood up and glared at Ben. “Uh, you? What are _you_ gonna do about it, Tennyson?”

Ben looked at his watch and smirked.

00000

The four of them ran into the woods, making sure not to be seen by anyone. Ben and Amy looked over at Max, who nodded his head.

The two of them activated their watches, looking over the selection of aliens

“Hmm…” Ben pondered, looking over his choices. “Eeny, meeny, miney…” He stopped at the silhouette of a large, bulky alien and slammed down on the faceplate. “Here goes!”

Amy sorted through her own choices, eventually finding an alien that looked useful. “Guess this’ll work.” She quickly slammed down on the faceplate.

The light washed over them again, changing them in seconds.

When it died down, Ben had grown into a tall, muscular creature made entirely out of blue crystals. His eyes were a solid yellow-green, and his t-shirt and cargo pants were switched out for a black-and-white sleeveless jumpsuit. The hourglass symbol was positioned over the left side of his chest.

Amy, meanwhile, had transformed into a lean black-and-red colored creature with a pair of antennae and a long tail. On the tips of her fingers, the antennae, and the tail were solid gold plugs. A single, solid brown eye sat in the center of her face, and the hourglass symbol had migrated to the center of her chest.

Gwen gave them an apprehensive look. “So what can _those_ guys do?”

Ben looked over his new, crystalline body. “I dunno...but I bet it’s gonna be _cool_.”

Amy nodded, giving her tail an experimental twitch. “What he said.”

With that, the four of them ran to the campsite.

00000

As the person on the radio had said, the campsite was being ravaged by the robot that had sent out the drones earlier. Campers were sent running as it shot lasers at the RVs of various sizes, blowing them up.

“Looks like papa robot this time,” Ben noted, looking over the mechanical monster.

Amy nodded. “We’ll get gearhead’s attention. You guys get the campers to safety.”

Max nodded and gestured for Gwen to follow him, leaving Ben and Amy to handle the robot.

As they ran up to it, the robot spotted a park ranger helping a woman up, then snatched him up in its claws.

“Leave him alone!”

The robot turned towards the source of those voices and saw Ben and Amy, ready for battle.

“You want somebody to pick on?” Ben yelled. “Try me!”

The robot scanned them, then dropped the ranger and blasted at them with a laser. Amy, realizing she was about to get hit, crossed her arms over her chest, closed her eye, and braced for impact.

Instead, the laser fire was absorbed by the plugs on her fingers.

She opened her eye and looked at her hands, now crackling with energy, and smirked. “Oh, _sweet!”_

Quickly, she aimed her hands at the robot and focused on letting that energy out. Sure enough, a stream of electricity shot out and hit the robot square in the chest, causing it to stagger a bit.

Ben, meanwhile, wasn’t as lucky; he was launched into another RV. After recovering from the hit, the robot took the chance to blast that RV again, turning it into a pile of twisted metal.

“BEN!” Amy yelled, running towards the RV to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

After a few seconds, a crystalline dagger pierced the metal of the RV, and Ben crawled out, his right arm having morphed. He looked at the arm for a second, and several more jagged shards grew out of it. “... _cool_ ,” he muttered.

The robot started approaching them again. Ben ran at it and tried to hit it with his arm, but it jumped out of the way before the hit could connect. It then spun its legs around a bit before landing on Ben. Amy quickly leaped at the robot, hoping to make a dent, but it simply smacked her away with one of its arms.

Ben gulped. “Uh-oh. Think I’m in trouble...”

The robot walked a few steps backwards before picking up Ben and throwing him into a ranger’s car, causing him to yell in pain.

Amy, still on the ground where she’d been thrown, sat up and groaned. “Man, this thing’s tougher than I thought.”

Ben, meanwhile, crawled out of the ranger car and glared at the robot, then dodged laser blast after laser blast.

Then one of the blasts hit a tree, which started to fall...with Gwen in its path.

Quickly, Ben ran over to the tree and extended spikes on his back, which split the tree in half and caused said halves to fall harmlessly on both sides of Gwen.

Gwen stared up at Ben for a few seconds, before Ben said “So. We’re even?”

Gwen nodded. “Even.”

Amy, seeing this, got up and ran towards the robot, an attack plan formulating in her mind. The robot quickly spotted her and fired another blast at her, but she absorbed it with her antennae.

The robot then picked Ben up and grabbed one of his arms, trying to pull it off. Instead, it got a destroyed hand full of crystal shards. Undeterred, it used its other hand to blast Ben into a ranger’s cabin, setting it on fire in the process.

Ben quickly got out of the debris and prepared to attack the robot again, but before he could, Amy yelled at him. “Ben! Reflect!”

“Reflect? Wha-” Ben saw Amy charging up another blast, then looked at his own reflective body, and grinned. _“Oh.”_

Quickly, Ben put both of his hands in front of his face, right as Amy blasted another electric laser towards him.

The laser bounced off of his hands and right through the robot’s abdomen. Grinning, Ben shifted his hands so that it cut through the right shoulder and neck of the robot as well. “What goes around, comes around. Let’s see how you like it, you techno freak!”

Now bereft of its most vital pieces, the robot fell into a heap and exploded.

Gwen cheered. “All RIGHT!”

“Way to go, guys!” Max yelled, ignoring the looks he was getting from other campers.

Ben smiled. “Aw yeah! Who’s bad?!”

Amy grimaced. “Really?”

Ben froze for a second, then looked around. “Well, I think our work here is done.”

Amy nodded. “I concur. Let’s get out of here before the watches time out.”

With that, they ran into the woods, Gwen and Max following behind them.

00000

Morning had come, and Gwen and Max were loading the RV in preparation for the trip ahead. Amy was inside, using the video call feature on her laptop.

_“So, let me get this straight,”_ Julie, the person on the other end of the line, said. _“That watch lets you turn into aliens, and you used it to fight a robot.”_

Amy nodded. “Yep. And they all have these really cool powers. It honestly felt like I was in a real-life fighting game!”

Julie raised an eyebrow, skepticism clear on her face. _“I need proof.”_

Amy grinned and activated the watch. After she sorted through her choices, she pressed the dial down and the familiar light washed over her.

Once it had died down, Amy had transformed into a small, blue-skinned, fae-like creature with darker blue hair sticking up, solid brown eyes, pink markings on her face, and pink fairy wings. She wore a dress-like outfit colored red with white edges and black gloves, and the hourglass symbol was on her chest.

“Well? What do you think?” she asked, giving her wings a flap.

Julie said nothing, only staring.

Amy blinked, then waved a hand in front of the screen. “Julie?”

Julie snapped out of the shock and shook her head. _“That’s...wow. Now I’m wishing your parents had mentioned this trip earlier so I could weasel my way into it.”_

Amy giggled. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to tell you all the details!”

_“Well, I guess that’s the next best thing,”_ Julie sighed.

“Amy!” Max called. “Come help with these bags!”

“In a second!” Amy called back. She turned back to the screen. “I have to head out now, Julie. Like I said, I’ll message you every day.”

Julie nodded. _“See you later, then.”_

“See ya!”

With that, Amy shut of the camera and closed the laptop, then flew outside to help Gwen and Max.

Gwen eyed the fairy and smirked. “Are you sure you’re gonna be able to lift things like that?”

Amy huffed. “Well, I can certainly _try_.”

“Hang on...” Max said looking around. “Where’s Ben?”

“I haven’t seen him since breakfast,” Gwen replied, shrugging.

A sudden zooming sound caught everyone’s attention, and they turned to see a creature on the dirt path. It looked like a semi-armored black and blue Velociraptor, with a pointed helmet obscuring its head, a long black tail with blue stripes, and black orbs on its feet.

“Ben?” Max asked.

The visor on the helmet opened up, revealing solid green eyes and black markings around a mouth. “Yep,” he replied. “Hey, check this out!”

The visor went back over his face, and he sped off with a gust of wind – only to reappear a few seconds later. He continued this pattern several times, all while putting stuff into the RV, before finally stopping. “Pretty fast, huh?”

The hourglass symbol beeped, and the alien was quickly replaced by Ben.

Amy smirked. “Not bad, but I’m pretty sure Panthera is faster.”

Ben shook his head. “No way. _Nothing_ can beat XLR8 in terms of speed!”

“And now you’re both doing the naming thing,” Gwen groaned.

Ben smiled and dusted himself off. “I think this is gonna be the best summer ever!”

“Absolutely,” Max replied.

Gwen sighed. “It’s definitely going to be _interesting_.”

Amy nodded. “I’m with Gwen on this. Why’d you run off, anyways?”

“Just had to take care of a couple of things before our vacation _really_ got rolling,” Ben replied.

“...right.”

Another beeping sound was heard, and Amy transformed back into her normal self.

As the travelers got into the RV, Amy looked at her watch again, thinking things over.

Okay, so this definitely wasn’t what she had planned for the summer. But who knew? Between the watch on her wrist and the people she was traveling with, maybe this _would_ turn out to be the best summer ever.

“HEY! Give that back, freak!”

“Make me, dweeb!”

Maybe.


End file.
